We need to lower the mattress on our 5 month old's crib and of course two of the freakin' bolts are stripped so the allen wrench provided by the manufacturer isn't working anymore. And of course they are rounded so it's impossible to get a grip with a pair of plyers. Anyone have any suggestions?
watch the wrap. Sears.com do a search for "screw out" They work awesome!
Forget their official tool. Get a set of 1/4" hex screw driver bits in both metric and english sizes if you're lucky one of these will be slightly bigger than the damaged bolts Use a hammer to drive the tip in then put a 1/4" socket wrench on the bit and strike the wrench with a hammer while pressing the bit into the bolt. Best would be an impact driver. Also it is helpful to grind the end of the screwdriver bit flat which will help it cut a slightly oversized new hex recess in the bolt.
Failing this then use a dremel tool with a cut off blade to create a new slot for a common screw driver blade. and as a last resort just grind off the head of the bolt and after disassembly you should be able to get at the now headless bolt with a pair of vicegrips.
Regards,
John
First thing to try is a good Allen wrench. I've noticed that the ones that come with the assemble-it-yourself furniture are soft and quickly round off. IOW, the socket in the screw may be OK.
Maybe something here will help:
jim ___ Have a home upkeep question? Try my help page. It's sort of an alt.home.repair FAQ.
Well the Allen wrench worked fine on two of the bolts so wouldn't that mean the wrench is okay?
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